Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with her Welsh counterpart on the universal basic income pilot scheme in that country.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Chancellor regularly meets with the Welsh First Minister. During their last engagement, the issue of universal basic income was not discussed.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of universal basic income on (a) consumer spending and (b) local economic growth.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including any assessment of the macroeconomic impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR publish their forecast in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility. This includes the OBR’s assessment of government policy announced at Spring Statement 2025.
Universal Basic Income is not a government policy and therefore no assessment has been made of its economic or distributional impacts.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of international trials of universal basic income.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including any assessment of the macroeconomic impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR publish their forecast in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility. This includes the OBR’s assessment of government policy announced at Spring Statement 2025.
Universal Basic Income is not a government policy and therefore no assessment has been made of its economic or distributional impacts.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of universal basic income on (a) income distribution and (b) wealth inequality.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including any assessment of the macroeconomic impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR publish their forecast in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility. This includes the OBR’s assessment of government policy announced at Spring Statement 2025.
Universal Basic Income is not a government policy and therefore no assessment has been made of its economic or distributional impacts.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of universal basic income on (a) GDP growth and (b) economic activity.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including any assessment of the macroeconomic impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR publish their forecast in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility. This includes the OBR’s assessment of government policy announced at Spring Statement 2025.
Universal Basic Income is not a government policy and therefore no assessment has been made of its economic or distributional impacts.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of implementing a universal basic income on inflation.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including any assessment of the macroeconomic impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR publish their forecast in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility. This includes the OBR’s assessment of government policy announced at Spring Statement 2025.
Universal Basic Income is not a government policy and therefore no assessment has been made of its economic or distributional impacts.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to introduce statutory requirements for financial institutions to (a) notify people when a Cifas fraud marker is placed against them and (b) ensure access to an independent appeals process.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance Scheme (CIFAS) is the UK’s fraud prevention service. Services like CIFAS play a crucial role in safeguarding against financial fraud, supporting the Government’s broader efforts to protect individuals and businesses from these crimes.
When a financial institution suspects fraudulent activity, they can register a "marker" against a customer's credit report on the National Fraud Database, which is managed by CIFAS. As stated on their website, the markers themselves are not created by CIFAS, but rather by the financial institutions who suspect fraud. CIFAS only provides the infrastructure for these markers to be registered and accessed by other members.
We do not have plans to introduce statutory requirements for financial firms to notify people when a CIFAS marker has been assigned. If an individual believes that a CIFAS marker has been incorrectly assigned, they should first raise it with the organisation that recorded it to the CIFAS database for them to review. If they do not remove the marker then the individual can go directly to CIFAS. The individual can also apply to have a further review conducted by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
The Treasury has not assessed the potential merits of bringing CIFAS under the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing Cifas under the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance Scheme (CIFAS) is the UK’s fraud prevention service. Services like CIFAS play a crucial role in safeguarding against financial fraud, supporting the Government’s broader efforts to protect individuals and businesses from these crimes.
When a financial institution suspects fraudulent activity, they can register a "marker" against a customer's credit report on the National Fraud Database, which is managed by CIFAS. As stated on their website, the markers themselves are not created by CIFAS, but rather by the financial institutions who suspect fraud. CIFAS only provides the infrastructure for these markers to be registered and accessed by other members.
We do not have plans to introduce statutory requirements for financial firms to notify people when a CIFAS marker has been assigned. If an individual believes that a CIFAS marker has been incorrectly assigned, they should first raise it with the organisation that recorded it to the CIFAS database for them to review. If they do not remove the marker then the individual can go directly to CIFAS. The individual can also apply to have a further review conducted by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
The Treasury has not assessed the potential merits of bringing CIFAS under the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the (a) regulatory oversight and (b) accountability of Cifas.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance Scheme (CIFAS) is the UK’s fraud prevention service. Services like CIFAS play a crucial role in safeguarding against financial fraud, supporting the Government’s broader efforts to protect individuals and businesses from these crimes.
When a financial institution suspects fraudulent activity, they can register a "marker" against a customer's credit report on the National Fraud Database, which is managed by CIFAS. As stated on their website, the markers themselves are not created by CIFAS, but rather by the financial institutions who suspect fraud. CIFAS only provides the infrastructure for these markers to be registered and accessed by other members.
We do not have plans to introduce statutory requirements for financial firms to notify people when a CIFAS marker has been assigned. If an individual believes that a CIFAS marker has been incorrectly assigned, they should first raise it with the organisation that recorded it to the CIFAS database for them to review. If they do not remove the marker then the individual can go directly to CIFAS. The individual can also apply to have a further review conducted by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
The Treasury has not assessed the potential merits of bringing CIFAS under the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, What assessment she has made of the potential impact of revoking the windfall tax on oil and gas companies on the revenues of the exchequer.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In its manifesto the Government committed to make changes to the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) to raise revenue towards clean energy goals, including raising the rate of the levy from 35% to 38% and extending the duration of the levy until 31 March 2030. Following confirmation of these changes at Autumn Budget 2024, the EPL is now due to end by 31 March 2030, or earlier if oil and gas prices fall consistently below the price thresholds set by the Energy Security Investment Mechanism. The OBR’s latest forecast published at Spring Statement 2025 indicates that the levy will generate £13.5 billion in receipts between 2024-25 and 2029-30, on top of £7.4bn already raised since the levy’s introduction.
Following a period of change and uncertainty, the government is committed to providing long-term certainty to the oil and gas sector over the future fiscal regime and published a consultation on 5 March exploring the design of a new permanent mechanism for responding to price shocks once the EPL ends.
Government is committed to delivering clean power by 2030 and will work in tandem with the private sector to unlock investment and deliver new clean infrastructure. Our Contracts for Difference scheme has driven significant investment in renewable energy generation. The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets out proposed reforms to ensure the scheme can support the volumes of capacity needed whilst minimising costs to consumers.